In a heterogeneous wireless mobile access technology environment the end-user service experience must be preserved across the different access technology environments. In this context, a multi-mode Femto system provides an end-user with in-building wireless mobile access to a variety of services. The multi-mode Femto system accommodates a variety of existing and emerging radio access technologies to enable connectivity for a variety of multi-mode mobile devices, such as smart phone/data devices, for the end-user access to services. The Femto system consists primarily of the MD (Mobile Device), FAP (Femto Access Point), FNG (Femto Network Gateway), and the OAM&P (Operation, Administration, Maintenance and Provisioning) entities. In contrast with a Macro system (Wide Area Cellular Network), the FAP entity in a Femto system provides a much smaller physical footprint as compared to the BS (Base Station) in the Macro system.
In such an environment, limited usability of the FAP, and the handoff related performance degradation across the Femto system and the Macro system, are detrimental to the end-user service experience. Limitations in the end-user usability of the FAP, such as the restriction of usage to a single location, or a single access provider, would be an impediment to the user experience. In the case of handoff across the Macro system and the Femto system, a degradation of the service delivery, as a result of latencies and packet losses, is likely to adversely impact the end-user experience.
In the absence of an enhanced configuration and handoff scheme for the multi-mode Femto system, which enables a variety of usage scenarios for the end-user, while also preserving the service related QoS constraints in the presence of handoffs between the Femto system and the Macro system, both the resource utilization in the corresponding system, and the end-user experience are adversely impacted.
For the widespread adoption of the Femto system, both configurability and handoffs aspects are required to be addressed for an attractive end-user experience. In the case of configurability, a combination of the user profile and the access network policy are leveraged to enable the end-user to utilize the FAP at one or more locations. In the case of handoff, an awareness of the associated network resources, potential target networks, and the QoS constraints associated with a launched service are leveraged to for the detection and the execution of a handoff to a target network. Since the end-user usage scenarios are subject to individual choices, and authorized user profiles, and the handoff scenarios are subject to a variety service QoS constraints, access network conditions, and access network policies, an enhanced configuration and handoff scheme for Femto systems is required. The handoff scheme operates within the context of a configuration of the Femto system, and supports an efficient handoff across the Femto system and the Macro system. The support of the QoS constraints associated with a service is impacted by the access network conditions, as well as by the conditions of the MD (Mobile Device). The network conditions, such as bandwidth and capacity degradation are likely to adversely impact the established QoS associated with an application. The mobile device conditions such as mobility, received signal quality and battery life are also likely to be detrimental to the established QoS associated with the application.